Space in Language and Cognition Explorations in Cognitive Diversity [Paperback]

In this 2003 book, Stephen C. Levinson uses differences between languages to explore the relation between language and thought.Spatial orientation and direction are core areas of human and animal thinking. But unlike animals, human populations vary considerably in their spatial thinking. This book shows that these differences correlate with language, which is probably largely responsible for these different cognitive styles. The book reports a large set of cross-cultural studies, investigating spatial memory, reasoning, types of gesture and wayfinding abilities. It sheds new light on the relationship between language and cognition, and on cross-cultural differences in thinking. It will appeal to all students of language and the cognitive sciences.Spatial orientation and direction are core areas of human and animal thinking. But unlike animals, human populations vary considerably in their spatial thinking. This book shows that these differences correlate with language, which is probably largely responsible for these different cognitive styles. The book reports a large set of cross-cultural studies, investigating spatial memory, reasoning, types of gesture and wayfinding abilities. It sheds new light on the relationship between language and cognition, and on cross-cultural differences in thinking. It will appeal to all students of language and the cognitive sciences.Spatial orientation and direction are core areas of human and animal thinking. But, unlike animals, human populations vary considerably in their spatial thinking. Revealing that these differences correlate with language (which is probably mostly responsible for the different cognitive styles), this book includes many cross-cultural studies investigating spatial memory, reasoning, types of gesture and wayfinding abilities. It explains the relationship between language and cognition and cross-cultural differences in thinking to students of language and the cognitive sciences.Preface; 1. The intellectual bacl“.